Mike
When I wake up the next morning, my neck is cramping, my foot's asleep, and I have drool dribbling out of my mouth. I groan as a stretch and wipe my mouth. I had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV, too scared to even move. As I ate breakfast, I recounted the strange events of yesterday. I wondered if I should tell my mom but I quickly banished that thought. What could she do about the ugly-chicken-woman? That was if she even believed my story. I quickly came to the conclusion that this adventure would remain a secret between Eli and me. Remembering of Eli, I wondered if I would ever see her again. I didn't know where she lived. I knew she didn't go to my school. I also knew I had never seen her before yesterday. I put on some new clothes and peeked my head outside. Not sensing anything, I went outside. It was a nice day, bright and warm. There was no lingering bad feeling from yesterday and I didn't see the ugly-chicken-woman. I stopped by the grocery store and grabbed a cookie that Mrs. Parker had brought. It was a chocolate macadamia nut cookie today, it wasn't bad. I walked into the park looking for Eli. She wasn't anywhere to be seen. I felt a little disappointed but that was weird because I'd just met her. I shrugged the feeling and sat on the bench. I was enjoying the day when suddenly the bad feeling was back. And it wasn't warning me like before, it was screaming at me to run as fast as I could. Before I knew what I was doing, I was sprinting down the park pushing my legs to go faster. I hear an angry screech and splintering wood behind me. I urge my legs to go faster. My heart's beating out of my chest and fear is making me run. I can feel the wings of the ugly-chicken-woman and desperately look for a manhole. At the moment I feel the ugly-chicken-woman's talons brush my arm, a hand grabs me and pulls me down an alley.
"Come on!" Eli shouts as I stumble. I find my balance and soon I'm running in front of Eli, fear governing my actions. I start to go down another alley but Eli shouts, "No! This way!" She pulls me towards the main street and runs out into the street. I suck in my breath as I hear a car's brakes screech. Eli keeps running and I hear a pained scream and thud as the ugly-chicken-woman is crashed into by the car. There are gasps and shouts, but Eli keeps running. We run for a few more minutes and then Eli slows in an alley. I gasp for breath with my hands on my knees.
"How-How did you find me?" I pant. She takes a few breaths then says, "I sensed you were in trouble." She pushes a few hairs out of her face and looks around.
"How? I mean, I got the sense thing yesterday but that was when we were right next to each other. How can you sense me when I'm not next to you?" I question. She kind of flinches and has the look of I-shouldn't-have-said-that. She sighs and motions me to follow her. We walk down the alley and turn left into another alley.
"Eli?"I ask.
"I can sense the shadows," she says quietly. When I don't answer she stops and faces me.
"I don't know how or why but I can feel the shadows around me. At least I think that's what they are. I can sense dark pools everywhere and they outline different shapes. That's how I can sense things," she explains.
"Really?" she nods. "That's awesome! I wish I had some cool thing like that." Her head snaps up and she looks at me incredulously.
"What?" I ask uncomfortable. Her eyes are blank but I feel like I'm looking into nothing. Sure, you think, she's blind. Of course she has eyes that don't look like anything because she can't see anything. But no, these eyes are like looking into a place where there is no emotion or motive to do anything. Like looking into nothing. Eli looks at me for a second longer and shakes her head muttering, "So strange." We walk for a couple more minutes and then I find that we're at my apartment just at the back entrance.
"Wow, you remembered where I live? But last time we came in the front way, how did you know which building it was?" I ask. She shrugs.
"I remember the place not how many steps it takes for me to get somewhere. I'm not a typical blind girl," she replies.
"How far can you sense?" she thinks for a moment then says, "I guess about ten feet in every direction." I whistle in amazement.
"Well, I guess this is where I say goodbye," she turns to leave but I grab her hand.
"Wait," I say, "Why don't you hang out with me?" She shakes her head.
"Sorry, I have something I need to do," she turns and walks back the way we came. I go up to my apartment, feeling like an idiot. Why don't you hang out with me? What were we supposed to do? Gosh I was an idiot sometimes. I should've said, hey let's go get a cookie from Mrs. Parker or listen to some music in the music store. But no, I decided to be vague and look like I was scared. Which I was. I wasn't used to being attacked and it was nice being with someone who seemed to know what they were doing. I hoped it the attacks wouldn't be a regular occurrence as I picked up my guitar and strummed it. I stayed inside for the rest of the day, singing about chocolate macadamia nut cookies.